Sly as a Fox {Book One}

Chapter 26

Chapter 26

Explanation

noun

-a statement or account that makes something clear

-a reason or justification for an action or belief

After herding everyone out and saying goodbye, I sat down in my designated spot on the couch and my dad finally came back into the den, cursing under his breath. "Everything okay?" I questioned him as I looked him up and down, trying to extract any information from his stance or his gaze that would give an indication as to what that very long conversation was about.

He glanced at me and ran a hand down his cheek, "You kids are gonna be the death of me."

I turned in my seat to better face him, "Why, what happened?"

With a sigh, he leaned back into his recliner to make the feet pop up, "Dante's gotten himself into some trouble and your mom's gone down to Boston to drag him home by his tail." In all the years my brother had been away to college, he had never come back to Portland and stayed more than a day and my parents certainly never had to force him to do so.

"What kinda trouble?" A few possibilities ran through my head, but none of them stuck with certainty.

His eyes looked up in thought, "Well, for one, his scholarship's been revoked."

"What?!" That scholarship was the only way my brother was able to even attend Boston University. Without it backing him, there was no way we would be able to cover the costs so he could graduate. It only made it more severe that this would be his last year there and he would have graduated in May. "What did he do?!"

My dad shook his head again and flipped through the channels of the TV, still on mute, "I don't feel like getting into it." He paused, "Stars, it's just like when you were kits all over again: He would always make trouble and trouble would always find you." His words couldn't have been more true.

"Why aren't you going too?" If Dante was in any trouble, it would have more sense to me for my father to go down and bring him back. Not that my mom couldn't handle herself, but she was still only five feet tall and whatever kind of "trouble" this was sounded like it required more muscle than she could offer alone.

His eyes glanced to mine, "'Cause I've gotta stay here and make sure you don't get into more trouble."

I scoffed and put a hand to my side, "I take offense to that! I'm eighteen, I can take care of myself for one night!"

He rolled his eyes and took the TV off mute, "Sure you can." He turned his head and lifted his lips into a sickly sweet smile, his tone doing a one-eighty, "Now go slice me a piece of that lasagna, sweetie."

~**********~

The rest of that night was uneventful. After eating some of Carla's delicious lasagna, I took a shower and crawled into bed hours before I usually would have, but the past week had left me more exhausted than I cared to admit.

I laid in bed and read the texts Blithe had sent me while I had been showering, the sound of my fan humming calmly in the background.

I made it through the first minefield, lol.

Tiffany's been asking about you.

Brian told me he went over to see you after I left. How'd that go?

This is too much to text, call me when you get a chance.

I giggled, the sound way too girly for my ears, and then pressed the call button. Blithe's rich voice answered almost immediately, "Hey, little fox."